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Vice Chief of the Naval Staff
Flag of the Vice Admiral
Incumbent Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan since 1 May 2024
Indian Navy
Type	Principal Staff Officer
Status	Vice Chief
Abbreviation	VCNS
Reports to	Chief of the Naval Staff
Seat	Naval Headquarters, New Delhi
Formation	11 May 1967
First holder	Sourendra Nath Kohli

The Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS) is a statutory position in the Indian Armed Forces, that is usually held by a three star vice admiral. The Vice Chief is the deputy of the Chief of the Naval Staff and is usually the second highest ranking officer of the Indian Navy. The current VCNS is Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan who took over from Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi on 1 May 2024.

History

At the time of independence of India on 15 August 1947, the Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy was the de facto Second-in-command. The appointment was held by an officer of the rank of Commodore. In 1949, the Chief of Staff was also made Deputy Commander-in-Chief RIN. In 1955, the post was re-designated Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. In 1959, the post was upgraded to Two-star rank.

On 11 May 1967, the office was re-designated to Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, in line with the Indian Army and Indian Air Force. It was first held by Sourendra Nath Kohli. The appointment was then in the two-star rank of rear admiral. On 12 December 1967, Nilakanta Krishnan succeeded Kohli as VCNS, with the office being raised to the three-star rank of Vice-Admiral in March 1969.

Organisation

The VCNS heads the Staff Branch-I at the Naval Headquarters. The following Directors General/Controllers/Assistant Principal Staff Officers report into the VCNS.

• Chief Hydrographer
• Inspector General Nuclear Safety (IGNS)
• Controller Warship Production & Acquisition (CWP&A)
• Director General Project Seabird
• Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Policy & Plans)
• Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Staff Requirements)
• Principal Director Naval Plans (PDNP)
• Integrated Financial Advisor (Navy)
• Director General of Naval Armament (DGONA)
• Director General Naval Armament Inspectorate (DGNAI)
• Scientific Adviser to the Chief of the Naval Staff (SA to CNS)

Order of precedence

The VCNS ranks at No. 23 on the Indian order of precedence, along with the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force and the Army Commanders (GOC-in-C), Naval Commanders (FOC-in-C) and Air Commanders (AOC-in-C). The VCNS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of ₹225,000 (US$3,200).

Appointees

The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.

See also

• Chief of the Naval Staff
• Vice Chief of the Air Staff
• Vice Chief of the Army Staff
• Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff

Notes

1. Appointed as rear admiral, appointment raised to the rank of vice-admiral 26 March 1969.

** Went on to become Chief of the Naval Staff.

References

1. "NHQ REORGANISATION" (PDF). pibarchive.nic.in. 3 February 1949.
2. Nanda, S M (October 2015). The man who bombed Karachi : a memoir. HarperCollins Publishers India. p. 113. ISBN 978-8172235628.
3. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 23 May 1959. p. 124.
4. ^ "Admiral Kohli First Naval Vice-Chief" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 11 May 1967. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
5. ^ "Rear Admiral Krishnan Promoted Vice-Admiral" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 27 March 1969. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
6. "Staff Branch-I | Indian Navy". www.indiannavy.nic.in.
7. "President's Secretariat" (PDF). Office of the President of India. Rajya Sabha. 26 August 1979. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
8. "Report of the 7th Central Pay committee" (PDF). 20 November 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2015.
9. "New Naval Appointments" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 20 February 1970. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
10. "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)". The Gazette of India. 3 May 1969. p. 440.
11. "Admiral Cursetji to Head Western Naval Command" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 14 February 1973. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
12. "Admiral Kamath to be Naval Vice Chief" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 21 March 1973. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
13. "Admiral Pereira Takes Over as Vice Chief of Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 5 April 1977. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
14. "Vice Admiral Swaraj Parkash To Take Over as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 22 February 1979. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
15. "Vice Admiral Schunker Takes Over as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 1 April 1980. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
16. "Admiral Sethi Appointed Vice Chief of Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 25 February 1982. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
17. "Senior Naval Appointments From March 1, 1982" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 4 February 1982. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
18. "Admiral Mookerjee Appointed Vice Chief of Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 30 May 1983. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
19. "Vice Admiral Tahiliani New Vice Chief of Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 1 May 1984. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
20. "Vice Admiral Nayyar New Vice Chief of Naval Staff" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 27 November 1984. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
21. "Vice Admiral Nadkarni New Vice Chief of Navy" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 27 February 1986. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
22. "Admiral Nadkarni to Take Over as New Naval Chief" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 29 November 1987. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
23. "Vice Chief of Navy Takes Over" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 8 December 1987. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
24. "New Vice Chief Takes Over" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 28 February 1989. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
25. "New Vice Chief For Navy" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 13 June 1990. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
26. "New Vice Chief, Flag Officer Commanders-in-Chief and Deputy Chief For Indian Navy" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 28 December 1990. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
27. "Vice Admiral Govil Retires" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 30 October 1992. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
28. "Change of Guard at Naval Headquarters" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 31 October 1992. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
29. "Vice Admiral SK Chand PVSM AVSM ADC - Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Retires Today" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 30 November 1995. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
30. "Admiral Kohli Appointed As New Vice Chief of Indian Navy" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 23 November 1995. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
31. "Navy Vice Chief Appointed" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 19 October 1996. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
32. ^ "Major shake up in naval command structure". Rediff.com. 1 March 2001. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
33. "VICE ADMIRAL JOHN C DESILVA, PVSM, AVSM, ADC VICE CHIEF OF THE NAVAL STAFF RETIRES". pibarchive.nic.in.
34. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 30 October 2017.
35. Competition Science Vision. Agra: Pratiyogita Darpan. 2004. p. 854.
36. "Senior Naval Appointments Announced". Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 23 August 2005. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
37. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 30 October 2017.
38. "New Vice Admiral R P Suthan".
39. "Vice Admiral Dewan takes over a Vice Chief of Naval Staff | Brahmand News". brahmand.com. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
40. "Vice Admiral Sunil Lamba may be the next navy Vice-chief". Deccan Chronicle. 25 April 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
41. "Vice Admiral Dhowan To Take Over As Vice Chief Of Navy". Retrieved 30 October 2017.
42. "Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba appointed new Vice Chief of Naval Staff". Firstpost. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
43. "Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba takes over as VCNS | Indian Navy". www.indiannavy.nic.in. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
44. "Indian Navy aspires to achieve 90% self-reliance in production of warships, says Vice Admiral Murugesan | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
45. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 30 October 2017.
46. "Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, AVSM assumes charge as Vice Chief of Naval Staff | Indian Navy". www.indiannavy.nic.in. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
47. "Press Information Bureau". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
48. "Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar assumes charge as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff". Zee News. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
49. "SUPERANNUATION OF VICE ADMIRAL SN GHORMADE, VICE CHIEF OF NAVAL STAFF". Sea and Coast. 31 March 2023.
50. Gaurav, Kunal (5 December 2023). "Vice Admiral Dinesh Tripathi to become India's new Vice Chief of Navy Staff".
51. "VICE ADMIRAL SANJAY J SINGH TAKES OVER AS FLAG OFFICER COMMANDING-IN-CHIEF, WESTERN NAVAL COMMAND". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
52. "VICE ADMIRAL KRISHNA SWAMINATHAN, AVSM, VSM ASSUMED CHARGE AS VICE CHIEF OF THE NAVAL STAFF". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 1 May 2024.

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